Wahiawa General Hospital is the latest O'ahu facility to decide to suspend maternity services because of rising costs, leaving pregnant women with one less option for delivering infants.

Wahiawa General told The Advertiser yesterday the hospital is losing $700,000 a year on its labor and delivery services. Reopening the program can't be considered until the entire hospital returns to profitability, something that may be at least a year and a half away, it said.

"I would think the community would be very much concerned about the birthing center closing," said Wahiawa Neighborhood Board Chairman Ben Acohido.

Wahiawa General said it will suspend delivery services within the next two months in what could lead to a permanent closure of the program.

In 2001, St. Francis Medical Center-West, now known as Hawaii Medical Center-West, cut its maternity services, saying the program was costly.

The closing of Wahiawa's program will mean mothers from the North Shore, Wahiawa, and Mililani will have to travel to hospitals in Honolulu or Castle Medical Center in Kailua to deliver.

A spokesman for state Rep. Michael Magaoay, D-46th (Schofield, Mokule'ia, North Shore) said the office had received several calls from concerned residents.

The unit attracts mothers from around the area as well as people from Leeward O'ahu who don't want to drive to town. The hospital has promoted the obstetrics unit as "The Birth Place," saying the service has been designed to make births pleasant for entire families and not just the mother.

Wahiawa General Chief Executive Officer Don Olden said the number of women using its obstetrics services has been dwindling in recent years and that only about 25 percent of area residents now use them. The hospital averaged between 240 and 300 births annually the past eight years.

That's compared with the more than 12,000 annually on O'ahu in recent years, Olden said.

"We're not getting a real big share out of the births," Olden said. Moreover, the hospital is losing money on each of the births because of staffing and other requirements. He said the hospital would need twice the number of births to break even.

"We don't get compensated enough," he said.

Olden said up until 18 months ago, the hospital had been able to offset the obstetrics losses with money generated from surgical services. But some of Wahiawa's surgeons moved to the Mainland or other O'ahu hospitals, and the hospital is now losing money. Payments from Medicare, Medicaid and the Hawaii Medical Service Association aren't rising as fast as hospital costs, he said.

"We've got to get the hospital restructured and turned around to where it is able to sustain itself," Olden said. The facility plans on recruiting surgeons, promoting new ultrasound and CT scanner services, and expanding its long-term care business in addition to moving its acute-care hospital services to a new facility. But even with those changes, it could take 18 to 24 months before the hospital returns to profitability.

Olden said Wahiawa General's board also looked at whether it should pursue state support to keep the maternity unit open, but decided this wasn't feasible because it would require about $75,000 a month, or about a $2,500 subsidy for each birth.

The eight registered nurses who worked in the unit are being offered a chance to transition to other positions at Wahiawa General or get help finding jobs elsewhere, Olden said. Wahiawa General has 56 acute-care and 103 long-term care beds.

Olden said Wahiawa General will still continue to serve unexpected births through its emergency room after the maternity service ends.

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.